Instagram Broadcast Channels: How to use and popular Indian channels, take a look

To boost its on-going efforts to help creators establish their presence by focusing on building their communities on the platform, Meta has rolled out the Instagram Broadcast Channels globally. This will give creators a new way to directly engage with their followers at scale.

Meta is introducing new features like Collaborators, which enable creators to invite other creators (or fans) to participate in their broadcast channel.

Instagram broadcast channels is being expanded globally, giving millions of creators a new way to directly engage with their followers at scale. In effect, this medium will help creators interact in a much deeper way with their followers everywhere.

So, what is Broadcast channels? These are a public one-to-many messaging tool that creators can invite all of their followers into and share text, video and photo updates. Notably, Meta began testing broadcast channels on Instagram, in February. Creators can also use voice notes to share their latest updates and behind-the-scenes moments, and create polls to crowdsource fan feedback.

However, interactivity is limited as only creators can send messages in broadcast channels, while followers can react to content and vote in polls.

Broadcast Channels: How to use

After creators get access to broadcast channels, the first message they send from their Instagram inbox, their followers will receive a one-time notification to join the channel. Anyone can discover the broadcast channel and view the content, but only followers who join the channel will receive notifications whenever there are updates.

Followers can leave or mute broadcast channels at any time and can also control their notifications from creators by going to a creator's profile, tapping the bell icon and selecting “broadcast channel.”

Notifications will default to “some,” but this setting can be changed to “all” or “none.”

Other than the invitation notification, followers will not get any other notifications about a broadcast channel unless they add the channel to their inbox. Once a channel is added to their inbox, it will appear among other message threads, and notifications will be turned on and function like any other chat.

As soon as the broadcast channel is live, creators can also encourage their followers to join by using the “join channel” sticker in Stories or by pinning the channel link to their profile.

How to join a broadcast channel:

* Access the broadcast channel link via a creator's Story sticker, the link pinned to their Instagram profile or, as an existing follower, a one-time notification sent when a creator starts a new channel.

* Tap “Join broadcast channel.”

* After joining the channel, followers can react to content and vote in polls, but cannot send messages.

Popular Broadcast Channels in India

The following public figures, teams and creators have already started their broadcast channels. Head to their profiles and tap the link in their bios (accessible via mobile only):

MC Stan (@m___c___stan): Rapper, singer, composer and writer. 1M members on his channel named ‘Aai Zavun Tak Mitra Mandal'.

Faisal Shaikh (@mr_faisu_07): Content Creator. 351k members on his channel named ‘Faisusquad'.

Mumbai Indians (@mumbaiindians): professional franchise cricket team based in Mumbai. 311k members on their channel named ‘MI Channel'.

ICC (@icc): International Cricket Council, the global governing body for cricket. 294k members on their channel named ‘#WTC23 The Ultimate Test'

Smriti Mandhana (@smriti_mandhana): Indian Cricketer; part of the Indian Women's Cricket Team. 251k members on her channel named ‘SM18 FamJam'